Good Ol' Tea
by Hide-because-it's-me
Summary: Starring: A tea cup, a teapot, and two sleepless Titans, tripping over each other in the middle of the night. Short thing, BBRae


**_Disclaimer:_** No! I don't own anything at all. I'm a poor devil…please donate…

_A few notes:_

Well, it's my first fanfic, so please, don't destroy the little bit of enthusiasm that's growing inside o' me. And English's not my mother tongue, so, in some parts I shall sound like Starfire maybe.

------------------------------------

_**Good Ol' Tea**_

It was just another calm summer night. A soft breeze caused the waters in the bay of Jump City to curl. In the middle of those little waves, on a small island, there stood a building, well known by everyone living the city. The building had the shape of a gigantic T and it was the home of five young teenage heroes, the Teen Titans.

The full moon, shining brightly due to the lack of clouds, enveloped the building with a silvery light. Just a silent night, without any threats or evil guys, trying to destroy the city. So the Titans had gone to bed many hours before, after fighting for the remote, watching one of Beast Boy's much-loved horror movies and throwing popcorn at each other. But a certain Titan still had not fallen asleep.

Through a small opening between two heavy, black curtains, a beam of moonlight fell on Raven's face. The dark sorceress lay in her bed, the sheets drawn up to her chin. She stared at the ceiling, her eyes closed to slits, because the moonlight blinded her. With a small sigh she stood up, walked towards her window and closed the curtains. Immediately she was wrapped in darkness. With another small sigh she let herself fall on the bed, just to continue her gaze at the ceiling, this time with wide-opened eyes. No, she was not afraid of Beast Boy's stupid horror movies anymore, and, no, she had not heard a cry, breaking the silence of the night. Maybe she was a bit angry about the popcorn she could still pull out of her violet hair, but that was not the thing either. She just was not able to sleep. She was thinking about something, well, she often had those nights, only wondering about the twisted paths of existence. But there came no answers, they would never come.

"Shit", she whispered into the darkness. The many thoughts, running wild, produced a faint head ache.

'_Well'_, she thought, _'sleep's something, I can forget right now. It's too early for meditating, so, let's get cup of good ol' tea.'_

Tea, as well as meditating, of course, always helped her, when she was sore in her mind as a result of dwelling on her emotions, she would never be able to show, the things, she could never do or say, dwelling on her father, hate, friendship, love…Merely about those common things which bother every teenager and half-demon.

Back on her feet, she took a few steps and yawned loudly. Opening the door to her room, she stepped out into the hallway and made her way slowly down to the common room. As the doors to the common room slid open, a very familiar scent reached her nose. It was the aroma of her favourite herbal tea. Noticing that the light was switched off, she wondered, why someone, except for herself, should make tea in the middle of the night. She levitated towards the kitchen to make sure, that she did not make a sound. She reached the entry and heard the teapot whistle in that very moment.

"Damn, stop that, you hear me? Dude, you'll wake someone!" a voice mumbled. Raven was now even more surprised by someone telling her tea pot to shut up.

"Hey, anybody there?" the voice, very familiar to her, asked. She pressed herself against the wall and slowly began to phase through it. Reaching the other side of the wall, she turned on the light. Her eyes needed a few seconds to grow accustomed to the light, but she was sure that what she saw was green.

Beast Boy's ears jerked up. Caught red-handed, he turned around, letting the cup in his left hand manage to escape and shatter on the wall, on his face an expression of mingled surprise, shock and fear.

"I…I…I…w…was…," he stuttered, blushing in the deepest red Raven had ever seen. A minute passed. Feeling that her eyes had been fixed on him for the whole time, she started to say something, making the silence between them disappear.

"Well, so you were…," when suddenly the teapot decided to break away from the grip of Beast Boy's other hand. It fell straight on his right foot, splattering the hot tea over his left one. In that moment he did not know where to turn with both of his feet suffering from the sudden pain. He jumped from one foot to the other, almost knocking over a chair and he tripped over the very pot, he had let fall a few seconds before. Hitting his head at the table, he changed into a dog, howled out loud and licked his paws, when all of a sudden there came a chuckle. And there was only one person it could come from.

'You_ chuckled? Do you have temperature? Or did someone steal your brains while watching TV? Huh?'_ something inside her head yelled at her. He had managed to make her laugh, although in a faint way, and that, because he hurt himself. Regret followed very quickly.

Beast Boy morphed back to his human form, still with his face of shock, fear and surprise, plus his mouth gaping open. Had she really laughed? Hurt or not did not matter in this second. A laugh? No, impossible.

There they stood, gazing at each other, both agape. First, Raven came back to her senses. The pieces of the cup on the floor were enveloped in a black aura and put together. Then the cup flew back on the table, as well as the teapot did. She tried to form a sentence in her usual monotone voice.

"Okay,…um, sorry,…you still…eh…wanna have some…tea?"

'_Why are you apologizing? He's drinking your tea. Don't you usually throw him to the other side of the city, when he touches your stuff? And why are you stuttering? Focus!'_

The words pulled Beast Boy back to reality. "Oh, eh, still want some, yes," he managed to utter, rubbing the back of his aching head.

"Good."

'_Good? Do you want him to stay, or what?'_ She filled water into the teapot and put it back on the stove. Her look fell on him again. He stood there, wearing only a slightly purple t-shirt and his boxers, still with a blush on his cheeks. Suddenly a strange, warm feeling began to flow through her stomach. The sight of the boy and his whole appearance let come up one thought in her mind.

'_He looks…kind of…cute!'_ No, oh no, she had not thought that, she simply had not. She slapped herself mentally.

'_Beast Boy, it's Beast Boy, alright, so the hell focus!'_ She felt a heat rising to her cheeks and reached back to where usually her hood would have been. But she quickly realized she was only wearing her pyjamas. Her thoughts were interrupted by a whistling coming from the pot. She filled two cups with hot tea and gave one to Beast Boy.

"Don't drop it again," she said with a slight smirk.

"What…oh, yes,…won't," he answered. Raven looked up from her cup and took a glance at his face. Something was different. It was not the face of the usual always-funny, ever-laughing, carefree joker she knew.

'_Maybe the giggle hurt him more than you thought.'_ She wished she had worn her cape to cover her face with the hood. But a small laugh was not very likely to bother Beast Boy. No, it was something more important. There was something depressed around his eyes.

'_Ask him, c'mon, something's wrong, just ask, do him the favour, do it! Show him that you care, make him happy again, you like it, when he's happy, joking around, annoying you, you like him, you lo…'_ What? The voice in the back of her head was strong, sometimes a little bit to strong (and it did not know what it wanted either it seemed). But she decided to asked.

"Hey, Beast Boy, anything wrong?" It sounded more worried that she wanted it to sound.

"Um…nothing." To her surprise he suddenly walked out of the kitchen, turning off the light and leaving her alone in the darkness.

'_What the hell was that!'_ the voice yelled. After hesitating for a short time, for she had not expected such a reaction, especially from Beast Boy, she went after him.

"Garfield?" Maybe she would become an answer, if she called him by his real name.

"Huh?" The sound came from the big couch in the common room. It had to mean something special, when Raven called him that, so he decided to act in response.

"Gar?" she slowly came closer. "Tell me, what's wrong. You can trust me," she said, again with more than monotone in her voice. Then she heard him sipping his tea.

"It's nothing, okay?" She detected a slight annoyance.

"There _must_ be something wrong," she insisted, "if you get out of your bed at 3 o'clock in the morning to make some herbal tea in secret."

"Yeah, about the tea, I'm sorry. Hope, you don't get mad at me. I was afraid of asking, because…, well, as you said, 3 o'clock, and…after all, it's _your_ tea and…you always angry, when…but needed it,…so I…just leave me alone, will you…g'night…" His voice became more muffled with every word. He did not ask why Raven was stirring at this time. All of the other Titans knew that she often had sleepless nights. They did not know exactly why, but they could guess.

"Forget about that," she interrupted him. The tea was the least important thing in that moment.

"Why, Gar?" He knew she would not stop asking. A faint sigh was voiced and then he finally gave in.

"Sit down," he said, patting on the place next to him. Reluctantly, she walked over to him and sat.

"You know," he went on, taking another sip of tea, "it's not easy,…it's just…my…my mum's birthday…her 40th birthday." Silence followed. Raven knew Gar's parents had been dead for more than 10 years now, but it seemed that this was one of those wounds which never really heal.

"I've been thinking about them, Rae." For the moment she found ignoring the nickname the better option. "Well, and thinking about other things…Life's just so short, you know, it can be over that quick." He snapped his fingers. "Every time we go out there, fighting the evil guys for all these people…my friends have become my family and…I'm afraid, Raven, just afraid, that I could lose my family once more…and you..."

This was not the immature creature she used to know, this was the most honest and deepest side of Garfield Logan. She was surprised and shocked. Surprised, that she would ever hear the shape shifter utter such words, shocked, that such fears and thoughts lived deep inside of him, and then again surprised and shocked, especially about one word.

'You_? Did he say _you_?'_ His words resounded in her head, _'…just afraid, that I could lose my family once more…and you...'_

"This kept me up, you know. What is the sense of all this? What is the damned sense behind this shit…?" Now she knew his worries. Now she knew why he was wandering around at night. Now she knew why he was sipping her tea. It seemed that he tried to find the same relief in it as she did so often. Relief of all the depressing thoughts which bothered them in the middle of the night, unseen by the other Titans. She looked up again and saw tears forming in Gar's emerald green eyes. Suddenly, she felt the same strange, warm feeling flowing through her stomach as she had felt in the kitchen. However, this time it was not caused by his outer appearance only, but by the inner one, she had just discovered. She voiced the first words that came to her mind.

"I don't know, but I understand." Along with comforting these words, she hugged him, forgetting about all her fears of being near and touching people, resting her head on Beast Boy's chest. She quickly realized she had caught him off guard, feeling that his heart began to pound faster and harder. He returned the hug at last. Then she could hear him mumble, "Thank you."

Thus they sat there, gazing out of the giant window of the common room, at the waves that were curled by the warm breeze. The pale light of the moon shone on the two teenagers, when Raven finally released Gar.

"Feeling better?" she asked. He nodded. "Enjoyed the tea?" He nodded again. "Fine."

'_Go for it.' _

He could not take his look off from her. These beautiful lilac eyes. They stared at him, too, when he suddenly found her coming closer.

She leaned over to him.

Only a few centimetres were between them. She could feel his breath, he could feel hers.

Everlasting seconds.

She heard the blood pounding in her head. She smelt his scent.

Millimetres.

A faint crack broke the silence.

She stopped.

The cup in Beast Boy hand glowed dark. A small fissure formed on the side of it.

She drew back, he knew why. Their eyes were still fixed on each others.

Endless seconds again.

Then she turned away. But she stayed and fell asleep…on his shoulder with one of the biggest smile of happiness on her face she had ever had.

After running his hand softly through her violet hair he drifted off with just his usual toothy grin.

The next day. It was half past eight, and the first Titan stirred. He removed the cables for recharging and made his way through the hallway to the common room. He was ready for breakfast, and ready for another Meat-vs.-Tofu fight with the little grass stain. The doors slid open. He scanned the room.

'_Good, nothing. Wait, something moved…oh,…no, just morning paranoia. Everything's quiet.'_ Then he made his discovery. Cyborg was not quite sure what he was seeing: A broad-grinning, green, teenage changeling, lying on the couch, soundly asleep, hugging a small pale

tea cup.

"Yo, BB! You definitely won't get any more tofu and popcorn after 11 p.m., hear me? That can't be good!"

-------------------------------------------------------

Trashy, I know! XP

_Please review and criticise the shit out of me : )!_


End file.
